It is common practice to use irrigation fluids (e.g., 0.9% or other concentration sodium chloride, lactated Ringer's solutions, etc.) to wash out debris, blood, tissue, fat or unwanted body fluids during surgeries on human. Antibiotic irrigation fluids are also used during surgery to prevent infection.
Irrigation fluids used to irrigate/wash a body cavity during a surgery include moderate (500 mls to 1000 mls) to volumes large volumes including those greater than 2000 mls, are routinely used. There are several problems associated with using irrigation fluids during surgery.
One problem is that during a surgical procedure it is necessary to irrigate the wound cavity or surface to clear away blood and tissue particles. It is usually necessary to hold a container up to the wound edge to keep the irrigating solution from flowing over the wound edge and running down the surfaces and onto the drapes and then the floor.
Another problem is that is a very common practice is to use a kidney basin with a thin rigid lip to the wound edge in hopes of catching the fluid. Kidney basins have a standard size and shape (i.e., a kidney shape), have rounded ends. The surgeon or assistant presses the most appropriate rigid surface against the wound and tries to get a seal so the fluid will run from the wound edge into the basin and is then suctioned or discarded.
Another problem is that due to the many surface contours of the bony skeleton and the soft tissue of a human body and differences in patient physical size and wound opening sizes, it is usually very difficult to get a good seal because of the kidney basins fixed size, shape and edges. As a result body fluids, particulate matter and saline spill out of the wound onto other parts of the patient, the operating room table, the surgical staff and the floor. The shape of the basin also makes it very difficult to hold easily while applying pressure to attempt to get a seal with the wound edge.
Thus, it is desirable to solve some of the many problems associated with collecting irrigation fluids used for surgery on humans during a surgery.